Quote :

"Home improvement Head coaching giant Lowe's Companies Inc. reported a 33 percent drop in fourth quarter/second half earnings scoring, with executives saying the market team hasn't been this slow since the mid-1970s. Inge days of the 90s"

2/25/2008 1:07:22 PM

I just wanna know when he's gonna start payin dem dividends

2/25/2008 4:21:35 PM

gotta make money (also read as: win games) first.

z00p!

2/25/2008 5:01:00 PM

Quote :

"i was watching some NBA last night and thinking what players I'd love to snatch from the league and put as a starting 1 guard in State's backcourt"

Shocking!!!! You mean an NBA caliber PG would be better than Javi Gonzalez!?!??!?

2/25/2008 5:06:22 PM

hahaha, snag us a Qb and an Oline from the Patroits while you're at it too.

2/25/2008 5:33:22 PM

^^obviously...but when i watch a bobcats game for example, i cant stop thinking how horrible of an NBA point guard Jeff McInnis is...he is responsible for lots of 8 second backcourt violations, not letting teammates know the shot clock is expiring, getting beat on defense, etc...i wish we would just cut him...but if that shitty PG could play for State...we'd definitely be dancing

2/25/2008 5:35:27 PM

http://www.wral.com/sports/story/2483489/

State's Lowe Covets Up-Tempo Team

Posted: Today at 1:59 p.m.
Updated: Today at 2:01 p.m.

N.C. State, yet again, lost to a quicker team on Sunday that disrupted the Wolfpack’s set offense.

This time, it was Virginia – last in the ACC – romping to a 78-60 victory in Charlottesville, Va.

If State coach Sidney Lowe has his way, though, the Wolfpack eventually will be faster, quicker and more up-tempo than currently structured.

“We have to execute well and make simple plays,” Lowe said Monday on the ACC teleconference. “We don’t have a team that can run up and down the floor, even though people think we can. We don’t have a fast-breaking team.”

State, in Lowe’s two seasons, has depended on set plays, with Lowe often calling the plays from the bench.

But Lowe gave an interesting answer Monday when pushed on whether he prefers a halfcourt team to a fastbreaking one

“You’d like to have a team that could do both and players that could do both,” he said

“If I had a choice, I’d rather have a team that could go up and down and play the game and play basketball and execute when you have to down the stretch
“That’s what the good teams do. They seem to do both.”

But in discussing that style further, Lowe clearly indicated he'd like a more fluid style. For example, he raved about watching Tennessee and Memphis on Saturday.

“Very seldom did you see them run a set. They just played basketball,” he said.

Lowe pointed out that ACC rivals North Carolina and Duke push the basketball up the floor but can play in a halfcourt set as needed.

“You’ve got to have the personnel to do those things,” Lowe said. “Our team is not structured that way.”

Lowe said State succeeded with its structured offense last year because senior Engin Atsur was an experienced guard who could run the offense. This year, State has lacked experience at point guard, and Lowe again brought up the early season loss of Farnold Degand to a knee injury.

Lowe said State “ had a point guard who was playing pretty good for us. He had the ability to get by and create and control the game.

“That set us back more than anything.”

Eventually, Lowe expects NCSU to become more of a fast-breaking team.
“That’s what we’d like to go,” he said.

And that, he said, will involve recruiting players to fit that style.

“We want to try to evolve more to that direction. That takes time,” Lowe said. “You can’t just bring in one or two guys and change right way. That’s eventually where we want to go.

“We want to be able to go up and down and really just play. Its more difficult to prepare for a team from a defensive standpoint when you really don’t know what they will do. …

“It’s easy to prepare for a team that runs sets and you know what they are running. We want to be more unpredictable as we go forward.”

2/25/2008 5:55:32 PM

Can't wait for a fast, quick, up-tempo team that doesn't defend, rebound, or hustle.

Instead of losing 75-60 every game we'll be losing 100-75. Great.

2/25/2008 6:22:50 PM

I think for me it's not an issue of wins and losses that concerns me..it's our lack of effort and inability of our Coach to make adjustments..Losing isn't the end of the world, but damn it, if you want my support, you need to play your heart out on the court..Take VA Tech for example, they have one fewer loss than we do, but yet I have more respect for them because in every one of their losses (minus the UNC game), if they were getting killed initially, they never gave up, and battled back to either win or make it extremely close..Case and point was when they played here at the RBC Center a few weeks back, and made it a 2 possession game near the end after being down by as many as 19..I think our failure to make adjustments and lack of effort is really torching this program...If we go 15-15 next year, but play hard in every game, Lowe can stay...but if the same shit from this season carries on, no way in hell would I want Lowe to be our Coach any longer, regardless of whether or not he's of historical significance to the program.

2/25/2008 6:23:14 PM

Lowe needs to quick making excuses....its making him look bad.

You gotta play with what you got. And we're not a bad fast-break team...but we were pretty horrible at doing it on Sunday. I think Grant threw it at someone's feet about 3 times on fast breaks against UVa.

Fells, Grant, Javis, and Hickson can run a break. Shit...McCauley isn't bad a running the break either. I'm sure he wants to have a bunch of players that run on every play so it can hide his deficiencies in coaching.

2/25/2008 6:46:28 PM

^^ exactly

2/25/2008 6:54:23 PM

I can't believe he is blaming our losses on the inability to run the break.

We look like dogshit on defense and our substitution pattern is completely inane.

What the fuck does that have to do with running a fast break.

2/25/2008 7:33:37 PM

per David Glenn's blog:

Quote :

"Perhaps the most painful story behind the Wolfpack's point guard problems this season is that of Chris Warren. As a high school senior last year, Warren took a recruiting trip to N.C. State in the fall and at one point hoped to sign with the Pack. A relatively unheralded player from Florida, he never received a scholarship offer from State, and he ultimately signed with Mississippi instead. This season with the Rebels, Warren — despite a smallish (5-11, 170) frame that scared off so many recruiters — quickly has become one of the most productive freshmen in the nation. He won the starting point guard job during preseason camp and hasn't looked back. Through Mississippi's first 26 games (18-8) this season, Warren was the team leader in scoring (15.2 points per game), assists (4.7 per game), 3-pointers (2.8 per game) and minutes (30.7 per game). He was shooting 39.5 percent from the field, 37.4 percent on 3-pointers and 72.7 percent from the foul line. He also was second on the team with 28 steals, and he had a strong (121-71) assist-turnover ratio."

I thought that was the case... oh well.

2/25/2008 7:48:54 PM

I hope some of you listened to the radio show tonight

explained a lot

2/25/2008 9:15:19 PM

explain.

2/25/2008 9:16:29 PM

Quote :

"State's Lowe Covets Up-Tempo Team"

Did Sidney model this fast paced offense by watching tapes of Princeton?

2/25/2008 9:19:04 PM

^^More excuses??

2/25/2008 9:20:18 PM

^^ what he wants, not what he has

I'm still going to give him a year or two with a team made up entirely of his own recruits before I write him off, I've got that eternal Wolfpack fan hope still in me

[Edited on February 25, 2008 at 9:26 PM. Reason : ]

2/25/2008 9:21:00 PM

bingo^

2/25/2008 9:24:44 PM

Quote :

"what he wants, not what he has I'm still going to give him a year or two with a team made up entirely of his own recruits before I write him off, I've got that eternal Wolfpack fan hope still in me"

wait, what?

the current player that prevent us from running an uptempo offense is jj hickson. we run our entire offense around posting hickson up and isolating him. its an nba offense in college and it doesnt work. every time up the court we have to stop and wait for sid to tell the guys which side he wants hickson to post up, then everyone just passes the ball around the perimeter until they can get it in to hickson. if they cant get it in, grant just drives the ball 3-on-1. uptempo!

2/25/2008 9:34:51 PM

Quote :

"if they cant get it in, grant just drives the ball 3-on-1."

1-on-3?

2/25/2008 9:58:04 PM

I WAS MEANING FROM THE OTHER TEAM'S PERSPECTIVE OR SOMETHING

2/25/2008 10:08:06 PM

Quote :

"the current player that prevent us from running an uptempo offense is jj hickson. we run our entire offense around posting hickson up and isolating him. its an nba offense in college and it doesnt work. every time up the court we have to stop and wait for sid to tell the guys which side he wants hickson to post up, then everyone just passes the ball around the perimeter until they can get it in to hickson. if they cant get it in, grant just drives the ball 3-on-1. uptempo!"

What? I'm fairly certain you haven't watched more than 1 or 2 of our games, and I don't think you know much about basketball. An uptempo offense consists of two things -- 1) getting out on the break and 2) scoring quickly in the half court set.

Hickson is our fastest fucking big man, he's one of the fastest big men in the ACC, he gets down the court ahead of most people on our team, and he has scored the most fast break points out of all of our big men because he gets down the court. We don't fast break because we don't get turnovers or rebounds.

WRT the half court offense, I don't understand what your learning disability is. You basically state why we suck but them you inexplicably blame Hickson. Our guards have to get the play every time, and we can't swing the ball and make post entry passes to hickson. How is this hickson's fault? How is it any different when costner or mccauley are in for hickson?

The other missing piece of our half court offense is dribble penetration from the guard position. If any of our guards could drive, that would collapse the defense sooner, creating quicker opportunities for guys to score. I shouldn't even have to mention the lack of the pick and roll this year. We scored with a lot more ease last year because atsur had the basketball IQ and the shooting ability to make that work.

Have you have seen carolina play? They try to post up hansbrough every time, and they are able to score a lot because they have better guards who can get him the ball and spread out the defense. They have guards who force the action on offense.

If hickson dragged ass up and down the court or if he didn't constantly try to post and repost, you might have legitimate criticisms, but the shit you just wrote is so stupid I half suspect you are just trolling.


[Edited on February 25, 2008 at 10:46 PM. Reason : .]

2/25/2008 10:38:57 PM

can Yow coach the men? at least our girls hustled tonight

2/25/2008 10:45:15 PM

foreshadowing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02maPqS810g&eurl=http://themixtapemonster.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/sidney-lowe-flopping/

2/25/2008 10:51:51 PM

^^^Yeah. The fact that he's claiming the problem with the offense is due to arguably one of the most talented (yet still raw) big guys in the conference.. Lowe can't run fast pace now because the personnel he has doesn't fit what he wants.

2/26/2008 9:18:20 AM

Quote :

"I can't believe he is blaming our losses on the inability to run the break. We look like dogshit on defense and our substitution pattern is completely inane. What the fuck does that have to do with running a fast break. "

This excuses bullshit is making him look like chuck the chest

2/26/2008 9:23:42 AM

Ok, so no Atsur means we can't run our half court sets as well. So what? There are so many ways we should have been able to make up for that this season.

Our rebounding should be much better. Our defense should be much more aggressive and active since we have more bodies to throw at the other team. We should be generating more turnovers and getting easy points. Second chance points should have gone up.

You can make up for a lack of offensive execution in other areas. These excuses just makes him look like a clown, and I think the Amato comparison is very valid.

2/26/2008 9:41:51 AM

Its really the lacking defense that riles me up. Costner watching nigs charge to the basket with Fells and not doing anything? Really?

We used to laugh at how our guys would get burned by a pick and roll and be unable to defend a hot three point shooter. Well our solution to that has been to not even bother defending the three point shot and consequently suffering badly for it if the other team shot well.

I didn't expect us to be good this year but I also didn't expect us to be dead fucking last, and getting blown out by UVA. Neither of which would happen with a strong defensive team. Yea, we wouldn't have made the NCAA's then either, but we at least wouldn't be dead last and we'd have built a foundation for next year.

We don't have shit to build on for next year. Its almost as if its 1993 all over again.

2/26/2008 10:17:33 AM

So..
good teams can run the break well or play half court sets
great teams can do both

We can't do either of those.

I lost faith in his ability to coach if he can't make the best of the personnel he has. UNC is not throwing in the towel because Lawson is out with an injury. Sure, we don't have the talent to be up there with Duke/UNC right now but are we really worse than the rest of the ACC as far as talent?

You guys can keep making excuses for him. The program didn't need "rebuilding." We needed someone to come in and take us to the next level (win titles, deeper runs in the tournament). Right now it looks like it's going to be a challenge just to get to where we were.

2/26/2008 10:32:39 AM

have we played the most top 25 teams in the acc...or am i reading this wrong?
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/confstandings?confID=2

2/26/2008 10:36:02 AM

^ nope.

and fwiw we are the only team in the acc to play both unc and duke twice.

2/26/2008 10:37:06 AM

There are supposed to be positive and negatives in every lineup. The problem with this team is there isn't a single thing we can point to and say with any confidence "we do this better than our opponent". Early in the year it was getting to the free throw line, but that went away the moment we started playing teams with actual talent.

2/26/2008 10:44:57 AM

One thing we do better than our opponents...

apathy.

2/26/2008 11:14:05 AM

and complain

2/26/2008 11:15:44 AM

^^^ not really. against msu we shot 32.

our ft per game avg. dropped by about 5 when we got to acc play though. and in 2 games we actually had single digit attempts, but overall, our ability to get to the line has been fairly consistent.

2/26/2008 11:28:21 AM

Lowe not being about to run the kind of offense that he wants because he doesnt have to players in place yet is not an excuse, its a fact...You cant take players that came here to play in Herbs live/die by the three, low tempo, control the clock offense, and turn them into up tempo players...coaches recruit certain players becasue they fit in there offense...The same mess is happing to us in Football, Chuck recruited the hell out of skill players but didnt emphasize the o-line too much, TOB's offense is based on a strong o-line, thus we struggled last year, the only knock on Lowe is that the team should show some signs of improvement...

[Edited on February 26, 2008 at 11:52 AM. Reason : ]

2/26/2008 11:32:58 AM

I hadn't seen this mentioned yet but baseball starting reminded of this... Did Lowe have any chance of keeping Brackman? I can't remember as I was gone for about 6 months, but I recall this being his top priority. Of course, 4.5 million had a lot to do with it...

[Edited on February 26, 2008 at 11:50 AM. Reason : /]

2/26/2008 11:43:18 AM

dive by the three!

2/26/2008 11:44:51 AM

^^No. He wasn't considered much of an NBA prospect, and there was legitimate talk of him being one of the first 5 picks in the MLB draft at the time. There was no reason for him to play basketball anymore.

2/26/2008 12:47:21 PM

we collapse better than any opponent

unfortunately its not collapsing on a big man in the paint with a double team, its collapsing as a team in the 2nd half

2/26/2008 12:49:05 PM

^^My step-dad was the 17th pick in the 1981 draft. Commanded a whopping $50,000 signing bonus. Probably made another $50,000 in his 5 seasons with the Waterbury Indians.

2/26/2008 12:53:51 PM

that signing bonus is worth about $115k in today's money...

2/26/2008 1:09:14 PM

fyi herb's last 5 years had teams with equal to or better talent this this one minus a center AND a point guard.

Herb didn't get blown out by the worst teams in the conference.

Though he couldnt beat UNC either.

Point being, its not like Sid walked into a UVA like situation with a team completely void of any talent.

He DID manage to get blown out by said team though.

2/26/2008 1:09:21 PM

lowe will have 1 more year to get this team in shape. or else he will get fired.

<-------------you heard it here first

2/26/2008 1:20:53 PM

Quote :

"fyi herb's last 5 years had teams with equal to or better talent this this one minus a center AND a point guard. Herb didn't get blown out by the worst teams in the conference. Though he couldnt beat UNC either. Point being, its not like Sid walked into a UVA like situation with a team completely void of any talent. He DID manage to get blown out by said team though."

Herb recruited players designed for a specific offense completely different than a 'traditional' offense, though.

I'm not arguing we should be this bad or that our play is justified, but our players aren't exactly the high-motor type that we need to run the offense.

The only thing that helps me stomach what I see on the court is to remember how bad we were without Atsur and how we were a different team when he came back. Once Javi gets better, hopefully we will improve tremendously

The defense I just can't defend. We're terrible

2/26/2008 1:29:30 PM

Quote :

"lowe will have 1 more year to get this team in shape. or else he will get fired be forced to resign."

2/26/2008 1:29:52 PM

Quote :

"Herb didn't get blown out by the worst teams in the conference. "

no, Herb would usually lose his games by scores of 54-49 or other non-blowout losses that still btw count as losses

2/26/2008 1:31:17 PM

Herb kept us in games thats what alot of people around here don't realize. He didn't have the talent that the other programs did but he was a good enough coach to win with what he had.

2/26/2008 1:34:27 PM

he kept us in games the same way Sid beat UNC last season...we used a lot of time on offense each possession in order to A) get a quality shot, and B) win the 'time of possession' battle which prevents the other team from scoring

i couldve sworn we were all fed up with that low scoring shit after 10 years of it though

2/26/2008 1:38:38 PM